Moments
by Treat Lee
Summary: Calzona Moments from s5 onward
1. Chapter 1

_S7: Ten weeks post crash. Callie and Sofia remain in the hospital, although both are stable._

It's 6:15am, and Arizona Robbins is wide awake. More than awake. She's nervous and fidgety and downright jumpy. It's a good nervous, though, which she is thankful for. Not the kind of nervous that comes with your fiance and daughter almost dying in a car accident that you could have prevented if you just looked back at the road one second earlier.

Not that kind.

Never that kind again.

Opening the door to the private hospital room, she slides in quickly so as not to draw any attention to herself. She's in the hospital against orders - her shift doesn't start until 7AM, and Bailey has been giving everyone who sees her inside these walls before her shift starts permission to tell her off.

It's worth it though.

Walking up to Callie and brushing a kiss on her cheek, Arizona silently sits in the chair stationed for her next to the bed.

"Hey pretty lady, wake up," Arizona coos. .

"Umfff," responds Callie, still laying on her stomach with her face slammed into her pillow. She's never been the most graceful sleeper. Even constrained to the hospital bed that's been her home for the past ten weeks, she has still managed to make a mess of herself amongst the machines and tubes and extra pillows Arizona insisted on stealing for her. Arizona beams at her girl.

"Calliope, honey, please. I need to talk to you before my shift starts."

Callie lifts her head from the pillow and shifts her body, immediately plopping her head back down on the bed after turning to face the blonde. Her eyes remain closed against the early morning sunlight, a rarity in the gray Seattle gloom.

"Now?"

"If that's okay."

The raw tremble in the blonde's voice makes Callie open her eyes. Well, eye. Half of her face remains buried in the pillow.

"What's wrong?"

Arizona, now occupying the smallest sliver of the hospital bed, looks back at Callie with big blue eyes. Callie reaches a hand over and cups her fiance's cheek. The blonde places her hand over Callie's, leaning into the warmth.

"Nothing. Everything is perfect."

"Except for the fact that I'm awake…" Callie lifts her head and looks over Arizona's body to the clock on the wall, which reads 6:20am, "much sooner than I need to be. Cristina isn't coming to harass me until 8:30."

Arizona laughs and moves closer to Callie, snuggling into her and running her nose along Callie's. "You're going to want to be awake for this, I promise."

Callie raises her eyebrows suggestively and lowers her hand to her fiance's ass. Arizona laughs and lazily kisses the brunette.

"Not that, just yet," Arizona responds to the gentle squeeze Callie gives her.

"You're killing me this morning."

Arizona laughs again. Callie wraps the blonde closer into her body, hooking a tan leg between the two scrub clad white ones next to her.

"So if you didn't have a nightmare and if you don't want me 'just yet' then what are we doing awake?"

"I have something for you."

"Please tell me you didn't try to cook me breakfast in the cafeteria again."

"I'm a good cook!"

"You're adequate at best, and a fire hazard at worst."

"I love you too."

Callie brings her lips to Arizona's and sucks on the blonde's lower lip. Arizona moans into the kiss, but breaks it off after a few seconds.

"Hold on. Keep your eyes closed."

Callie groans and buries her head into Arizona's neck. Blonde hair covers the brunette's face as Arizona leans up and grabs a small item out of her white jacket pocket. Burrowing back into bed, she sets the item in the small space between their two bodies. Despite the move, Callie keeps her face against Arizona's body.

"Callie."

"What?"

"Open both of your eyes this time."

Callie opens her eyes to a little white box, propped open to reveal a beautiful ring. Diamonds surround the band in a flowery pattern. Callie hones in on the jewelry; Arizona only has eyes for the brunette.

"I didn't do it right the first time."

"Arizona…" Callie trails off.

"I don't say it as much as I should. I'm better at showing you than telling you how I feel, but I'm going to get over myself for just a second because you deserve it. More now than ever."

Callie looks at Arizona's face, really looks at it for the first time all morning. The wounds on her forehead have almost healed, and her lips still bear a few scars. The blonde takes Callie's hands into her own, lets out a shaky breath and forges on.

"I meant what I said in the car, before…everything happened. Every word. I do love you more than anything, and I want more with you. I want rings, and commitments. I want to wake up with you every day and go to sleep holding you every night."

She kisses the knuckles on Callie's left hand, running her fingers ever so delicately over the bruises.

"I want to go to Sofia's soccer games and piano rehearsals and Girl Scout retreats with you. She's perfect, Calliope. Being her mama is the best decision I've ever made. No matter if we just have her, or another one or nine more, I want in. Always. If you'll have me."

"Arizona…" Callie starts, not able to find the words she wants. "Of course. Yes. Yes. Yes. Can I put it on?"

"You better."

Arizona takes the ring out of the box and slides it onto Callie's still healing fingers.

"It's perfect."

"Sofia thought so too. I swung by earlier this morning to give my baby girl her morning kisses, and I may have showed it off to her."

Arizona giggles into the kiss Callie lands on her lips, and Callie melts, right then and there.


	2. Phantom: Preview

"Thanks for coming today Arizona. I know it means a lot to Callie for you to be here."

Arizona sits uncomfortably on the edge of the couch in her wife's therapist's office. She does not want to be here today. She only allowed herself to be dragged along after Callie literally begged her.

She's been great putting herself back together - well, not great, but she's managing. It's been hard. Really hard. How is she going to talk to a complete stranger about her life when she can only just now have a full conversation with Callie without any anger bubbling up?

Callie seems at ease here - she's sitting back on the couch, close enough to Arizona to touch her but respectfully keeping her distance at the same time. Arizona resents her for her tranquility. Her freedom. What Arizona wouldn't give to feel that way again, even if for a day.

Dr. Schmidt starts. "Arizona, something that Callie and I have been doing in her sessions is practicing vocalization. That is, feeling an emotion or a thought and then working out the best way to express it in a constructive way. I normally start patients out with vocalizing a memory."

"I'm not your patient," Arizona interjects.

"True, but you are an active participant in Callie's session today, and as an active participant, I'm going to ask you to do exactly that: participate."

Arizona glares at Dr. Schmidt. He's not letting her squirm away.

"Can you tell me about one of your favorite days?"

Arizona sighs, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. So she's here, on the couch, but hell if she will be an active participant.

"I can, but I don't see the purpose." Arizona looks at Callie. Her wife's eyes beg her to comply with the doctor.

 _The Day Before_

 _Arizona and Callie rip around the living room of their apartment, cleaning up Sofia's toys. Along with the lasagnas and flowers they've received from distant family, friend and coworkers after Mark's death, an onslaught of toys for Sofia also made it's way into their now cramped apartment._

 _A stuffed giraffe in Callie's hand waves around wildly as she throws her hands up in the air._

 _"I don't understand why you won't come with me."_

 _Arizona tosses the cardboard building blocks into the bin a little more forcefully than necessary. "Uh, how about because it's not my appointment."_

 _"You knew that when I started seeing Dr. Schmidt I would want you to eventually come with me."_

 _"Honestly Callie, back when you started seeing Dr. Schmidt, I was so relieved to have you out of the house for an extra hour a day that I would have agreed to anything."_

 _Ouch._

 _Callie freezes in the living room. Arizona keeps her back to Callie and closes her eyes, knowing the bluntness of her words hit Callie like ton of bricks. Arguing with a loud Callie Torres for hours is one thing - driving her to silence is another._

 _"Calle. Please understand. I am performing my first surgery literally the next day. Do you think I need to be spending my time sitting on a couch talking about my feelings, or should I be reviewing the case of the 4 year old girl whose bowel I will be operating on?"_

 _"Arizona, we both know that you will not be reviewing the case because you can perform a bowel resection in your sleep. In actuality, you will be sitting on this couch. I'm asking you to come sit on another couch. With me. I really need to say some things to you."_

 _"Then say them."_

 _"Not like this. Not while we're at each other's throats cleaning up our daughter's grief toys."_

 _"Callie."_

 _"I need to know that you're hearing me when I talk to you. Please. Just once."_

 _"Okay. Just once."_

"Fine. Fine." Arizona looks to the ceiling, not daring to reach deep enough into her heart to risk any chance of saying something vulnerable. She just learned how to carry herself again. She's not willing to chance losing her small piece of mind to placate some man she doesn't even know, so she picks the first thing she thinks of. "The day I first knew I wanted to be a doctor."

"Tell me more."

Arizona stares down the therapist before continuing. "I was 11, and Tim was in the hospital for breaking his arm, again. My mom was fussing over him, which of course made me more nervous than I should have been. It was just a hairline break. One of the easiest ones to heal."

Arizona looks over to her personal ortho encyclopedia for confirmation. Callie nods her head.

"Anyway, my mom created such a sight that the orthopedic surgeon on call had to have a consult with her to calm her down."

Callie raises her eyebrows. "Your mom got the on call ortho surgeon to consult on a cast removal?"

Arizona nods her head. "Once you invoke the power of the United States Marine Corp, anything is possible. Trust me."

Dr. Schmidt chuckles softly. "I'd believe it."

"So the surgeon came in, right off a 10 hour emergency amputation for this guy in a skiing accident, and instead of being a giant grump like he was completely entitled to be, he was...magical. He reassured my mom. He made my brother laugh. He removed the cast himself, and he even let me help." Arizona lights up as she talks about Tim. "The first medical procedure I ever performed was on my brother. He just made me feel so safe, and I knew right then I wanted to give that feeling to other people when their kids were hurting."

"So it was an orthopedic surgeon who started it all."

Sparing a glance in her wife's direction, Arizona catches Callie beaming right at her.

"Yeah, it was."

Later that night

"Come here."

"Callie, no."

"Arizona, come here and let me talk to you."

"No! I'm upset and I want to pace but I can't pace because my freakin' leg hurts so much so I'm even more upset! Just leave me alone.

Callie stares at her wife hobbling around the room. She's come so far in the last months, both physically and mentally, all on her own. Just like she's always done. Callie forgets sometimes that underneath all of it, Arizona still needs help building her confidence up piece by piece, even if she would rather lose her other leg than admit to it.

"You never asked me what my favorite day was."

"What are you talking about?"

"That exercise today, with Dr. Schmidt. You never asked me what I talked about when he asked me about my favorite day."

"I'm a little preoccupied at the moment, Cal."

"Arizona."

"Fine Callie, what is your favorite day?"

"The first time I saw you holding our daughter."

Callie speaks quietly and firmly. Her eyes light up at the memory.

"With me being in the hospital for so long, I never got to watch you with her during those first weeks. I remember when we all came home for our first night in the apartment, and I went to help Mark put some of Sofia's things in his place. When I walked back in, you were rocking her before putting her down to sleep. Just...holding her."

Callie takes a step toward Arizona, and for the first time in a long time, Arizona doesn't automatically pull back.

"I'd been so afraid to let anyone else breathe on her, let alone touch her. Even with Mark I was hovering the whole time. But with you...I just watched you. Your hands were so strong and so steady."

Arizona hangs her head. Callie gathers Arizona's hands in her own, holding them close to her chest.

"Arizona, these are those same hands. These hands that have performed a million surgeries. They saved our baby."

"It still doesn't feel like they're the same." Her voice comes out in a small whimper.

"You lost a leg. I'm an orthopedic surgeon, and I still can't fully comprehend the loss you feel."

Arizona finally looks back up at her wife.

"But what I do know is that I trust these hands more than anything in my life. Tomorrow will be scary, and there may be road bumps in there, but it's you Arizona. You can do anything."

Arizona nods her head at Callie's praise. It's taken her a long time to even hear what her wife says, and an even longer time to start to trust her words again, but at this moment, she believes the sincerity in her wife's voice. She doesn't even question in.

She nods to their intertwined hands on Callie's chest. "If it's okay, I'd like to use these for something other than surgery right now."

Arizona leans forward, resting both hands on the sides of her wife's face, as Callie smiles into their kiss. There may be hope for them yet.


End file.
